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Police standoff in Pennsylvania ends in apparent murder-suicide

June 25, 2017

(ALLENTOWN, Pa.) — A man and a woman wanted for parole violation barricaded themselves inside a Pennsylvania home after allegedly firing shots at police, and later died in an apparent murder-suicide on Saturday.

The couple was being pursued after allegedly firing at police shortly before noon on Saturday. Following that incident, the man and woman fled and then barricaded themselves inside the attic of a home in Upper Saucon Township, according to authorities.

Police approached the home where they were hiding out and heard three gunshots that were not directed at them, according to Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.

Officers dispatched a robot to investigate the area prior to finding the pair dead, Martin said.

While fleeing police, the man and woman approached at least two occupied homes, according to a report in local newspaper The Morning Call.

Edward Petro, a resident of the neighborhood where the couple fled, told the paper that he was sitting in his living room and flipping through TV channels when he saw strange shadows moving across the wall.

“I’m waiting for them to ring the doorbell, but the doorbell doesn’t ring,” Petro told the paper. “The guy comes in with a gun in his hand — not in his waistband, in his hand. And I just stood in my tracks.”

Petro told the paper that the man asked for his car keys, which he said he did not have. The encounter lasted only a few minutes.

The house where the man and woman eventually died was a few blocks from Petro’s house, according to The Morning Call.

The names of the deceased have not been released yet by authorities, but police said they were wanted for violating parole.